Radiation therapy can help shrink or eliminate tumors of the lymph nodes or bone marrow, and may also be used to treat leukemia in cases where the cancer has spread to various organs of the body. Einstein uses some of the most advanced technology available to deliver extremely precise doses of radiation without damaging healthy cells, including the Varian TrueBream® linear accelerator (LINAC), available at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, and the Varian Trilogy®, available in both Philadelphia and Montgomery.

By creating a 3D map of the cancer using a variety of advanced imaging systems, we are able to guide the radiation beam with an incredible degree of accuracy, minimizing damage to the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. The most common form of radiation therapy is stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) when targeting tumors in the brain. However, other types of advanced radiation therapy are also available at Einstein:

Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) – This type of radiation therapy allows your doctor to adjust the radiation beam as the tumor moves during treatment, which is especially useful for tumors in areas such as the lung.

Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy – This type of radiation therapy uses multiple small beams of varying intensities that can change shape during the treatment, helping to deliver higher, more precise doses of radiation with fewer side effects.

RapidArc® Radiation Therapy – One of the fastest and most precise radiation treatments available is RapidArc®, which can deliver the same amount of radiation but up to eight times faster than other leading cancer treatments.

As chemotherapy targets cancer throughout the body, it is often used as the primary treatment for many types of leukemia, and lymphomas that spread quickly, or have moved throughout the lymphatic system.

Chemotherapy drugs target and kill dividing cells, which makes them an effective treatment against cancer because cancer cells divide much more often than most normal types of cells.

Chemotherapy is often used in combination with other cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy or surgery, and can target cancer cells that may have been missed by other treatments or have spread to other areas of the body.

Your individual chemotherapy treatment plan will vary based on the type of cancer you have, where it is in your body, your overall health and other factors. A typical treatment plan may include four to eight rounds of chemotherapy, with several treatments per round, followed by a recovery period of two to four weeks. Most chemotherapy drugs are administered intravenously on an outpatient basis, but you may also have the option of taking tablets or capsules.

Immunotherapies are treatments that help your body’s immune system identify and attack cancer cells. These treatments may include lab-grown batches of your own cancer-fighting T-cells, drugs that block proteins that stop the immune system from targeting cancer cells, proteins that attach themselves to cancer cells to signal the immune system to target them, and cancer vaccines and other similar treatments.

Targeted therapies are cancer drugs like chemotherapy, but work differently than chemotherapy in that they target cancer-specific genes or proteins or are aimed against the tissue environment that contributes to the cancer’s growth and survival. Targeted therapies can have effects such as slowing or stopping the formation of the blood vessels that supply the tumor, triggering the patient’s own immune system to attack the cancer cells, or increasing the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Through our clinical trials program, Einstein offers some of the most cutting-edge and experimental cancer therapies available anywhere. Learn more about our clinical trials program, and talk to your doctor to see if you qualify for any ongoing trials.